HA1NAULT SC'YTHK. 



HAMMER, POWER, AND STEAM. 



M 



about UK same time re alluded to as one, which would render this 

 proportion jet more remarkable, the awe* recorded in the above- 

 mentioned 1UU occurred as follow* : 



In the month of January 

 Krliniary 



March 

 April . 

 May . 

 June . 

 July . . 

 August . 



> ; ' : . ; 



October 



November 



December 







1 

 2 

 :f 

 7 



10 



17 



4 



2 











_0 



48 



The copious lists of hailstorms published by the Farmers' Insurance 

 Institution, which gives references to authorities, and in many case* 

 minute details of the damage done, appeared in the advertising sheet 

 of the ' Farmer's Almanac' for 1845. 



Mr. Howard remarks, in agreement with the results in the table 

 just given, that hail is of rare occurrence in the winter, in England ; if 

 we except a sprinkling of small opaque grains which in the fore part of 

 the night indicate the approach of a low temperature, and are found 

 on the frozen ground, and on the ice of the ponds in the morning. 



Mr. Alfred R. Wallace, in the account of the climate of the valley of 

 the Amazon, appended to his ' Travels' on that river, cites an authentic 

 account of a fall of hail on the Upper Amazon ; a remarkable occur- 

 rence, be observes, at a place only three degrees south of the equator, 

 and about two hundred feet (only) above the level of the sea. Children 

 were out at play, and brought the hail to their parents, astonished at a 

 substance falling from the clouds which was quite new to them and so 

 remarkably cold. [IcE ; METEOROLOGY ; SNOW.] 

 HAlNA'rLT SCYTHE. [HARVEST.] 



HAIR-MANUFACTURES. There is a considerable amount of 

 industry bestowed upon human hair and the hair of certain quadrupeds, 

 in the production of manufactured articles. Some of their uses depend 

 upon the felting properties of a few kinds of hair [FKI.TIXC; HAT 

 MANUFACTURE] ; some upon the great strength of the fibre ; and some 

 upon the beautiful gloss of which it is susceptible. Human hair and 

 horse-hair may be taken as the two chief materials for these manu- 

 factures. 



Hitman flair. The hair-trade is a much more important one than 

 would usually be supposed. It was stated in the ' Quarterly Review ' 

 a few years ago (No. 184) that London alone imports more than 100 

 cwts. of human hair annually, chiefly for making perukes and falne 

 curls. The mere clippings would not suffice ; there must be a regular 

 harrat of hair. A German has had the patience to count the 

 number of hairs in an average adult female head (probably among his 

 own countrywomen), and finds it to be 110,000, the blonde being 

 most numerous but finer in substance; the red least numerous 

 but coarser. The light hair imported by or for the hair-workers is 

 brought mostly from Germany, by a Dutch company whose agents 

 periodically visit London ; the dark hair more usually comes from 

 France. Some years ago, light golden tresses were much in favour, 

 and the German hair had a good market; but now French hair is 

 more used. Young women in England, who have beautiful tresses, 

 are sometimes urged by poverty to part with them for money to 

 the hair-workers ; but in France it is a regular system. There are hair 

 merchants in Paris, who send agents in the spring of each year into the 

 country district* to purchase the tresses of young women, who seek to 

 cultivate an annual crop with the same care as a farmer would a field 

 crop. The agents frequent fairs and markets ; and have with them a 

 stock of handkerchiefs, muslins, ribbons, &c., which they give in 

 exchange for the hair. So sensitive a barometer U commerce, of slight 

 change* in the value of exchangeable goods, that the agents know the 

 hair of a particular district to be worth a few sous more per pound 

 than that of a district thirty or forty miles away : a fact which 

 naturalist* would have been long in finding out. It is estimated that 

 200,000 lb*. of hair are purchased at each spring harvest. The price 

 paid is about five francs per lb. on an average ; but choice specimens 

 fetch much more. The agents send the hair to their employers, by 

 whom it is dressed and sorted, and sold to the hair- workers in the 

 chief towns at about ten francs per lb. That which is to be made into 

 perukes is purchased by a particular class of persons, by whom it is 

 cleaned, curled, prepared to a certain stage, and sold to the peruke 

 maker at twenty to eighty francs per pound. The peruke maker give* 

 it the form which, u is well known, commands a very high price; a 

 peruke is often sold for double its weight in silver. Both of the hair 

 iUelf, and of peruke* and other articles made of hair, France supplies a 

 considerable quantity to England and the United States. 



Beside* the making of perukes, false curls, Ac., hair-jewellery, so 

 oiled, is another of the minor manufacture* from human hair. 

 Bracelets, armlets, locket*, brooches, earrings, and other articles for 

 personal decoration, are made either wholly of hair, or of hair in com- 

 bination with other materials. No hair-harvest is necessary for a 



supply of materials ; the ordinary clippings are sufficient. The hair 

 goes through numerous manipulations on a small ncalo. It is laid 

 straight to prevent entanglement ; cleaned with warm water and soda ; 

 dried on a soft towel ; gently drawn between brushes ; and sorted 

 into different finenesses and lengths. By the aid of small leaden 

 plummet*, pieces of strong thread, and a work-table with peculiar 

 mark* and holes on its upper surface, the hairs are made to twist or 

 curl or knot round one another, something in the manner of pill.iwrd 

 lace; a pattern marked on paper or pasteboard being placed on (!. 

 t.iUr immediately beneath the work. For making such small articles as 

 locket* and brooches, advantage is taken of the facility with whii h 

 hair curia up when a heated iron is applied to it ; it depends upon a 

 gradual application of this heated iron to produce the required degree 

 of curvature in the curl. The Great Exhibition in Hyde Park con- 

 tained specimens of hair- work, representing portraits, trophies, temples, 

 &c.. as remarkable for patient industry as for defective taste. 



llnrtt-hair, Ac. Various manufactured articles in horse-hair possess 

 qualities which could not be found in any other substance easily 

 obtainable. The horse-hair differs greatly in length and colour. Some 

 of the white hair from the tail of Russian horses U as much as forty 

 inches in length, possessing great evenness, elasticity, and gloss. 

 Various other kinds, black, gray, and white, come to market in lengths 

 from twenty to forty inches. Some kinds are fitted for the stuffing of 

 sofas and other articles of furniture ; while others have the re 

 stroiRhtness and other qualities for the hairs of violin bows. Horse- 

 hair cloth is woven of hair taken from the tail, mostly of Russian or 

 South American horses. If the hair be naturally white, it admits of 

 being dyed green, crimson, scarlet, tc. by carefully conducted 

 processes ; but black or gray horsehairs only admit of a black dye, and 

 these are the kinds usually employed for horsehair cloth. Coloured 

 hair-cloth, mostly made at Worcester and Sheffield, and at Paris, is 

 extensively used in railway carriages and the saloons of steam-vessels, 

 as well as in ordinary domestic furniture. In most cases the best hair- 

 cloth only is made of horse-hair, the cheaper kinds being made of 

 cotton, linen, or worsted ; and the brilliancy and permanency of the 

 colours depend as much on these fibres as on the hair. In the 

 weaving of haircloth, the weaver uses a sort of hook-shuttle, which 

 he passes between the threads of the warp from right to left; an 

 assistant places a single hair over the end of the hook, and the weaver 

 draws it through the warp. The process is a very tedious one, for 

 each hair usually constitutes only one throw or thread of weft. 

 Specimens of, hair-cloth are made for conversion into carpets. Horse- 

 hair is also made into ropes, socks, and bags ; one manufacturer has 

 made it into muffs. For a cheap kind of stuffing, and as a material in 

 mortar, cow-hair is much used as a substitute for horse-hair. We 

 may mention here that horse-hair U imported to the extent of no less 

 than 20,000 cwt. annually, and that half a million yards of horse-hair 

 cloth are annually exported. 



A substitute for hair bos recently been introduced as a material for 

 ornamental manufactures. Plaits and curls for head-dresses, as lately 

 observed, are usually made of human hair; but the substitute consists of 

 dyed hemp or flax, aloe fibre, plantain fibre, or China grass. The fibre, 

 when dyed to the requisite colours, is combed or heckled until it presents 

 a glossy surface. To make this into curls, a fixed holder is used, into 

 which is inserted a rod slotted at one extremity. On this rod is 

 placed a tube, slotted at one end and having a pin through it at the 

 other. The fibres, in a damp state, are attached to the slot in the 

 tube ; and the tube being caused to turn, the threads assume a curled 

 form, and are attached to the ends of the pin. The tube is then 

 removed from the rod, and a heater inserted to fix the curl in the 

 desired form. The curl is subjected to a final glossing and dressing. 

 There are also attempts now being made to convert the tough fibre of 

 a peculiar South American plant into a substitute for horse-hair. 



One peculiar application of hair may be briefly noticed that of 

 the hair of rabbits and hares, carried on by the Russians. They wm-k 

 up the hair into a kind of felt ; press or fashion it into bowls, dishes, 

 plates, and other articles ; and varnish it thickly. The materials thus 

 made have the appearance of papier inachce or varnished leather, and 

 are strong, light, and durable. 



HALLEY'S COMET. [COMETS.] 



HALO. [METEORS.] 



HALOGENS. This term, derived from iX, salt, is employed in 

 chemistry to designate a class of bodies which form haloid salt 

 the metals. The halogens are chlorine, bromine, iodine, and fluorine, 

 to which may be added the compound halogen cyanogen. 



HAL ETHBB& [ETIIIIKS.J 



HALOID SALT& [SALTS.! 



llAMATIIInMC Aril). [EuXAXTHIC AciD.] 



HAMBRO' BLUE. [COLOURING MATTERS.] 



HAMMER, POWER, AND STEAM. A reference was made from 

 FORGE to the present article. It will not be necessary to notice the 

 hammer as a mere toot ; but tyi importance as a machine bos become 

 such, that a few lines of description are here requisite. 



Poicer-IJammer. This name we will give to such hammers as can 

 be worked with greater effect than by the mere muscular force of the 

 hammerman, but with the aid of a power other than steam power. 

 Such machines are now used in very great variety. Framing's forge- 

 hammer, applicable to heavy castings, and also to the hammering of 



